Little brother
by Eulphy Whitlock-Lupin
Summary: 'Sometimes... Little Brothers best us. It's annoying but you just can't hate him because... he's your little brother and you love him.' This is what happens when two older siblings talk. [Tsutsumi (Shigeru's brother) and Inaho (Kazuma's sister) have a little heart-to-heart chat on what being an older sibling really means.]


**Okay, so Little Brothers is finished after a couple of hours. My head is beat and my brain overcooked. It's 2:11 AM and I had just finished my second story of the day. Wow, Mama, you must be proud.**

**So, I just have this inkling in writing for the forgotten. The one-time show up characters. So, let's welcome, Tsutsumi-kun. I really found him quite… like me. And I really wanted to write this since I re-watched the anime.**

******Disclaimer: Inaho, Tsutsumi, Kazuma and the rest of the crew does not belong to me. It belongs to the creator of Yakitate! Japan. I only own the feels and the plot.**

**Big Sisters and Big Brothers, Read on and feel the emotions, the feels!**

* * *

**Little Brothers**

**An Inaho and Tsutsumi friendship fic**

* * *

_Bring! _The sound of the bell ringing brought Inaho out of her sudden dozing. She stood up from where she sat behind the counter and greeted her first customer with a bright smile.

"Welcome to Pantasia Southern Tokyo Branch, how may I help you?"

Truth be told, Inaho Azuma doesn't really get why she's doing this. It's not like she's getting paid. She's not even an employee here. But the fact remains that with two cute puppy dog face (Kazuma and Shigeru) a pitiful sweet kitty face (Tsukino-chan) and a threatening look (Ken-san), she just can't say no when they asked her to.

And to think, she was just delivering her brother's forgotten birth certificate.

Gosh!

But, back to the present. Inaho looked on curiously at the customer who came in. He is quite a looker, she admits. Silver hair sleeked back and yet the bangs framed his face quite wildly. He was wearing a white business suit and perusing around the store. When he didn't pick anything, she got out of the cashier and moved to where he was.

"Are you looking for something in particular, sir?" She asked.

"Ah, no, no, I was actually looking for a staff." He said, a smile on his face.

"Oh? Who?"

"Shigeru. Shigeru Kanmuri, I wanted to visit him, but it seems like he's not here." He said this with an added sigh on the tail.

She blinked. "Shige-chan and the others will be back soon. You can wait here if you like."

"Ah, I wouldn't want to impose." He said. "I can just come back later." He was about to leave but Inaho caught his arm.

"Please. You don't understand how bored I am here. I don't have any other company besides bread." She said. "Please, please, please, _please _stay. I am begging you here. You are the first Human being who entered this shop since the others left." Some other times, Inaho would be ashamed in doing this. She was _not _the type to beg. Especially since she doesn't even know the guy, hot or not. But after four hours of not having human to see or talk to, one tends to lean on the first person they see.

"Er… sure." He seemed unsure and looked at her quite weirdly.

"Don't worry, sir." She said. "I've got no reasons besides having company. Promise. I'm committed to another." Which wasn't really a lie since, despite the fact that she hadn't _really _sorted things out with Sylvan, she promised herself to him… eight years ago.

He seemed to sigh in relief. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to judge you."

"It's fine." Was her speedy reply. "I understand I'm acting like a loony bin."

He smiled. "I'm sure this is a bit late, but… I'm Tsutsumi. Tsutsumi Masanobu."

She let out a laugh too. "I'm Inaho Azuma." She introduced herself.

He seemed a little put out that she didn't have special reactions to his name and she thought that she'd done something wrong. Hey, it's not like she read newspaper or watch the news if it isn't about anything important. Is this guy a Prince? Like the one she had uppercut a few days back. Or is he some all-important CEO?

"Er…" The silence was awkward and suffocating. "Um, can I ask what's you're relation with Shige-chan?"

"Oh? He's my brother." He answered, but Inaho could sense a little bitterness into his voice. It was only a tad, but the racer who listens to the sound of every engines and differentiate it heard it well.

"Really? You don't look alike." She commented.

"We're only half-siblings." He said and she felt that this was a subject he didn't want to discuss.

For a moment, Inaho was tongue-tied. She didn't know what to bring up that wouldn't cause mass destruction between her and Masanobu-san. But it seems that he cleared the awkward silence himself.

"Are you related to Shigeru's friend, Kazuma, Azuma-san?" He asked.

"Yeah. He's my little brother." She let out an internal sigh of relief. Now, _this _is a safe topic. It's her favorite topic in the world.

"Oh…" He seemed to gain a little interest in that. "Can I ask you something, Azuma-san? I apologize if it may seem personal."

"Sure, fire away." She said.

"Do you ever feel… inferior of your brother?" She looked up, quite surprised at that. But he wasn't finished yet. "Aren't you jealous of him? I mean, he _is _a world-class baker by now. He is younger than you and yet he's better than you. Have you hated him for it? He's… a genius." And her eyes widened because she heard the unspoken, _like Shigeru _in the tail of his words.

A small faint smile made its way on her face. "Have I ever felt inferior of him? Yeah, I guess there were times like those." She looked down, inadvertently avoiding his interested look. "Was I ever jealous of him? Yes. But did I hate him for it? No. He's my brother. Why on earth would I hate him? I can't bake as good as my brother. Well, I can't bake anything except for Pan America and cookies. But, I never hated him for it. I'm his older sister, it's my duty to support him in his choices. If he gets better than me, if he surpasses me and everyone else prefers him over me then I'm proud of him." She looked and met his surprise look with a smile. "Don't look at me like that, Masanobu-san, surely you've felt that way with Shige-chan, that feeling of annoyance that he bested you but still you can't hate him for it because he's your brother."

He looked down. "I… I grew up not knowing Shigeru personally. All I ever heard about him is how much of a genius he is." She blinked at that. Was he telling his personal life story to a complete stranger? "He graduated of Harvard at 16, for fuck's sake."

_Language, _she mentally chided him.

He let out a sigh. "I was desperate to beat him. For once, to win against the genius son of my father. I even fought against him in a battle that would determine our fate."

"Ah! I remember you know. You're from the Jam battle in Yakitate! 9." She declared.

"Yeah. I guess, I find myself pathetic. I was so desperate to beat him that I fought against him even though I know that I had an unfair advantage." He shook his head and let out a bitter laugh. "But, in the end, we tied. And I had to admit to myself that I really am no match to him."

Inaho felt herself sympathetic to the man. She gave him a pat on the back. "Don't be so hard on yourself." She said. "After all, you really don't know that you've won one match that he can't win against you as of yet."

He looked up, surprised and curious. "What?"

She gave him a grin and with a wag of her index finger, informed him. "The battle of experience." She said. "Shige-chan may be a genius – and as you say, my brother is a world-class baker – but they don't have that much experience in life as we older siblings have. We've lived longer than them, so it's quite a given. And, I understand that you may not know Shige-chan very well, but when you do and you get attach to him, you'll understand. Seeing my younger brother surpass who I was at that age bloomed my heart. And it didn't inspire me to beat him. It inspired me to be better at my age so he'll surpass me more. But as of now, I'm happy that I may be able to help my brother and to teach him with what experience had taught me."

He seemed taken aback with her answer. She didn't understand why. Had she said something wrong? Kazuma always said she tended to be blunt. And insensitive. "Have I said something wrong?"

"No." He answered with a shake of his head and she noticed that he turned away from her, inconspicuously wiping his eyes. "No. You just… opened my eyes." And, for the first time, he smiled at her in a way that she wasn't sure if it's her imagination but she thought the heavens opened and the angels sang behind him. "Thank you, Azuma-san."

"Inaho, Masanobu-san. Let's start again. Please call me Inaho." She smiled and offered him her hand. "It's been a pleasure to talk with you."

He reached out and grasped her hand, a light in his eyes. "Then, you may call me Tsutsumi, Inaho."

She grinned. "Sure thing, fellow older sibling."

* * *

**-OMAKE-**

"Nee, is it really fine to leave Inaho-san to manage the store _alone_?" Shigeru asked, walking the halls of the Pantasia Main Branch.

"It's fine, it's fine," Kazuma waved away his concern. "I'm sure Nee-chan will do great. even if she is _alone._"

"But, Azuma-san, I agree with Kanmuri-san, isn't it a bit… mean of us to let your sister handle the whole store _alone_?"

"Nee-chan can handle the store just fine." He huffed. "I know Nee-chan can do it. She may seem impulsive, but you can trust her with important things.

Shigeru and Tsukino sweatdropped. "That didn't even make sense."

"Come now." Manager Ken's large hands found itself on each of their head. "She may be alone, but a woman who can uppercut like she can, can surely take care of the store. _Alone_."

Back in the store, peeping from the small crack of the door to the employee room, Kinoshita watched Inaho and Tsutsumi talk animatedly with tears in his eyes at being forgotten _once more._

**"I'm still here, you know." **His complaints went unheard.

* * *

**-AUTHOR's NOTE-**

**And now, all the ideas are dead. It's 2:15 and I'm only finishing the AN. My head's about to burst and I feel like I had a hangover. Which, I'm sure, will be worse when I wake up at 6 tomorrow… or later. UGH!**

**But anyway, did you like it. I really didn't think much here. I let my heart do the talking and stuff. So, there might be grammatically error stuff. Can't I just please rewrite it… tomorrow… later… when I'm awake.**

**Eulphy here, going crazy and is drinking Hot Choco to keep awake.**


End file.
